By the time the celebration finally ends –oh, maybe around the middle of next Tuesday – we might have some vague idea of what kind of NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski will become. For sure, we know he’ll be free-wheeling and fun-loving and wide-freaking-open. He’ll be hip and cool and Twitter-literate, some of the things that old, crotchety, long-time NASCAR fans aren’t. And he’ll bring exuberance and a swagger to stock car racing that we haven’t seen in a while.

All of which, it’s safe to say, will delight some folks, appall some others and leave yet others wondering just what in the hell is going on with this kid. The times, for sure, they are a’changing. “Expect the unexpected,” he said. “That’s my MO, right? I can’t say what kind of champion I’ll be; I don’t know yet.”

Keselowski cruised to his first NASCR championship on Sunday night by finishing a lap-down 15th in the season-closing Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. His only challenger, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson (as buttoned-down as Keselowski is loosey-goosey) was in position to perhaps snatch the big trophy until a botched late-race pit stop and a subsequent drive-line problem killed his chances. Keselowski won it by 39 points over Clint Bowyer and 40 over Johnson.

Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus planned to run all the way after their last pit stop with 53 laps remaining. Keselowski and most of the other drivers had to make another stop. (As it turned out, the final 106 laps were run under green). If that scenario had played out like the No. 48 team hoped, Johnson likely would have inherited enough finish positions late in the race to maybe nip Keselowski by a point or two. Instead, he went to the garage at lap 235 to deal with the rear gearing issue after a botched pit stop cost him a lap.

“We were in position and putting pressure on Brad like we needed to,” Johnson said much later. “But there was oil under the back of the car, so something happened from a line failure or a fitting was hit by debris or something. It puked out all the gear oil and burned up the rear gear. It all unraveled pretty quickly. First, the lug nut thing [a missing left-rear nut forced him to pit twice under green], then I could smell oil after a few laps back on the track. It’s definitely disappointing, but it’s hard to get down on myself or where we finished. But when I heard that Brad had finished 15th, I thought, ‘well, it would have been interesting.'”

Although they seemed well in control of their emotions, Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe realized that Johnson and Knaus were trying to steal the Cup with fuel and pit strategy. “Well, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and we weren’t in the best situation we wanted to be in,” Wolfe said. “But part of it is that I wish we’d had a little more speed in our car. I thought we would, but at the same time I think we were just being smart.

“It wasn’t a great feeling [knowing what the 48 team was doing], I can tell you that. It definitely wasn’t. But at the end of the day, regardless if they went to the garage or not, we were able to overcome that by taking four tires and pitting twice for fuel and working our way back up to 15th. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t give Brad a better car. That definitely made it one of the toughest races of my career, and I think that just shows how tough it is to win at this level.”

As usual this time of year, the race winner was almost overshadowed by the championship celebration near the start-finish line. Four-time champion Jeff Gordon saved fuel and led the final 14 laps to win the 267-lap, 400-miler over Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was Gordon’s second win this year, the 87th of his career and his first-ever at H-MS.

“I was saving a lot, I know that,” Gordon said when asked how much fuel he had at the end. “I just kept looking at the gap. What concerned me was that the run before I had gotten really, really tight in the center and loose off, and so I lost some speed at the end of the run. The 15 [Bowyer] was able to run me down and I didn’t want to see that same thing happen. So when [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] said to save fuel, I asked how many laps short we were? He said we were good, but wanted me to pad it a little.”

Kyle Busch led the most laps, 191, but lost his chance when he had to make a late-race stop for fuel. Gordon and Marcos Ambrose each led 14 laps, Truex led 11, Kasey Kahne seven, Newman three and Matt Kenseth two. There were only three cautions for 17 laps, two slowdowns for debris and one when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. crashed and shredded his right-side tires.

Gordon, who knows about these things, thinks Keselowski will be a great champion. “He has the ability to reach out to the social media and the younger crowd,” he said. “I think he’s somebody who wants to take that [role] and wants to be that [representative]. He’ll put a lot of effort into it. He’s entertaining; you never know what you’re going to get with him. I look forward to watching him and I think this will mature him to a whole other level.

“Every champion I’ve ever seen win their first one always comes out with a whole new perspective on past champions. And I remember when Jimmie won his, he was overwhelmed with everything that comes along with it. It makes you grow up. If you’re ready for it or not ready for it, it doesn’t matter; it’s there and there’s a lot to take in. It makes you really look at things a lot differently and recognize the responsibility you have.”

Keselowski started the race with a 20-point advantage over Johnson. With that cushion, he was assured of the title by finishing 15th or better, 16th with one lap led or 17th and leading the most laps. Even with Johnson outrunning him much of the race, Keselowski was generally within or very close to his safety margin. He was well within it at some points and barely within it at others. The most problematic was when Johnson was leading laps 202-212 and needed only one more stop while Keselowski was briefly outside the top-20 and facing a late-race stop. “I’m so thankful we drove back to 15th so I don’t have to hear for the rest of my life about how if the 48 car hadn’t had its problems, he’d have won the championship,” Keselowski said.

He also said he took no delight when Johnson went to the garage for good at lap 224. “I absolutely wanted to win the race,” he said. “I was hoping the race would play out to give us an opportunity to do so. Obviously, it didn’t, but I wanted to win the race the whole time. And I don’t really enjoy watching hardships happen to my competitors. I hate that. I want to beat them on the track. I want to beat them by being the best we can be and by out-executing them. I can tell you I wasn’t cheering.”